You Gotta Eat: Japengo

Sunsets and sashimi: Japengo does Japanese fusion with a view

By Lynnette Curtis

At sunset on a cool Tuesday evening, the sushi bar at Japengo is packed with boisterous sake drinkers. Since locals rarely make the 20-mile southeast trek from Las Vegas so early in the week, most of tonight's happy quaffers are probably guests at the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort, in which the dimly glamorous restaurant is nestled. Many have just strolled in from the patio--where they were clustered around one of the resort's outdoor fireplaces, sipping pinot noir and watching the sun begin its descent toward the lake--to enjoy fresh sashimi.

The rest of Japengo's clientele tonight consists of well-dressed, hand-holding couples most likely celebrating something--an anniversary? birthday? the end of the day's Ramadan fast?--and gazing at each other over candlelit tables. Some are already desserting, spooning Japengo's silky chocolate lava--a decadent, $7 souffle-style genois--into each other's mouths. Others are still working on appetizers--called "firsts" here--like the $13 crispy lobster cakes, made with a lush Thai mango chutney; or "seconds" like the cream-a-licious $8 velvet lobster soup.

Japengo's Pacific Rim entrees are all about presentation. The $28 lau lau opakapaka (snapper), for example, comes wrapped in banana leaves, banded together with a Hawaiian-style lei, and tastes as pretty as it looks. The Korean barbecue glazed salmon ($24), piled atop an onion potato cake and served with green papaya salad, is spicy yet smooth. And for all you red meat-eaters, there's the $46 Kobe New York strip, a Japengo specialty, grilled with Shitake mushrooms. Japengo also features a respectable selection of wines by the bottle and glass.

Between courses, the night's diners enjoy panoramic twilight views of the golf course, lake and nearby mountains through floor-to-ceiling windows, while listening to a pair of acoustic guitarists crooning '70s-era ballads in the lounge just outside the restaurant's entrance. (Live music on a Tuesday?!)

Japengo's interior is sophisticated and intimate. So intimate (read: dark), in fact, that it's difficult to read the menu. Unsymmetrical frosted lights that look like (but aren't) Japanese paper lanterns cast warm orange and red glows over everything. The only jarring element is the casino-style, multi-colored carpet, loud enough to give vertigo to someone who has knocked back a few sakes. Oh, and you have to venture outside the restaurant to find the bathrooms--again, not convenient when seriously buzzed.